(Reuters) -Rivian Automotive missed market estimates for fourth-quarter deliveries as powerful competitors and excessive rates of interest weighed on demand for its electrical automobiles, sending the corporate’s shares down 10% on Tuesday.
The corporate handed over 13,972 automobiles within the final three months of 2023, 10% decrease than the earlier quarter, and beneath estimates of 14,430, per 13 analysts polled by Seen Alpha.
Excessive rates of interest in the USA have raised month-to-month funds for electrical automobiles, making them much less inexpensive and prompting a value conflict by market chief Tesla.
Amazon.com, Rivian’s largest backer and a big buyer, additionally doesn’t take deliveries in the course of the fourth quarter because it focuses on the vacation season within the interval.
“It is seemingly that vacation schedules slowed down deliveries vs manufacturing,” mentioned Vitaly Golomb, a Rivian investor and an electrical and autonomous mobility knowledgeable.
Rivian produced 17,541 automobiles within the final three months of 2023, up 7.5% from the prior quarter. That took the annual manufacturing to 57,232 models, beating its forecast of 54,000.
Tesla additionally posted quarterly deliveries on Tuesday, with the corporate beating market estimates and assembly its annual objective.
Whereas an earlier-than-expected bond issuance in October had despatched Rivian’s inventory plunging on fears over its monetary well being, the corporate is broadly seen as higher positioned among the many EV startups reminiscent of Lucid and Fisker.
Rivian has up to now averted reducing costs of its automobiles, betting as an alternative on sustainable demand.
The corporate final month signed a deal for its electrical automobiles with U.S. wi-fi service AT&T, the primary after its exclusivity pact with Amazon led to November.
Some analysts mentioned on Tuesday the Rivian R1T pickup truck, which begins at $73,000, is unlikely to face main competitors from Tesla’s Cybertruck, unveiled in late November.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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